Both DAIC and Healthcare Industry Introduce Augmented Reality

As a magazine that covers new technology, DAIC is introducing some new technology of its own with this issue — augmented reality. Using an app on your smartphone, you can hover over an augmented reality enabled print page of the magazine and have immediate access to digital content, such as videos, 360 degree view images and videos, or links to related content on the DAIC website without the need to type in URLs.

Each print issue of DAIC in 2018 will have augmented reality enhanced articles. These will be identified with the Blippar app logo and basic instructions. For more information, watch a quick video demonstration.

Speaking of augmented reality (AR), I am convinced this technology will see a rapid expansion in medicine in the near future to help with interventional and surgical navigation. I saw several examples of how 3-D medical imaging reconstructions can be visualized as holograms or fused images on live patients using a HoloLens headset. I first saw it at the 2017 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) meeting last March. However, by the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) meeting in November, the technology was further refined and was a major draw in numerous vendors’ booths, including Philips Healthcare, Novarad and TeraRecon.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) also recently awarded a $2.2 million research grant to SentiAR Inc. to advance its work to design AR software to improve visualization in cardiac surgeries and interventional procedures. Physicians can view, measure and manipulate real-time holographic images of the patient’s heart during procedures while still being able to clearly see the operating room environment. The holographic display also includes catheter movement under the control of the interventionalist. In-human engineering testing began in summer 2017. Read more.

Philips and Microsoft have partnered to develop an augmented reality system to help imporve workflow and procedural navigation in the cath lab. Physicians wearing visors can view and interact with true 3-D holograms above the patient on the table and manipulate the image with voice and hand motion commands to avoid breaking the sterile field.